E57.7M STORED IN MOBILE MONEY IN THREE MONTHS

MBABANE - Contrary to the prevalent view that 2018 has not been a good year economically, indicators in the marketplace show that there is a lot of money in circulation, particularly in the month of December.

Some of the huge supermarkets, which include the Pick n Pay group of supermarkets, have at some point during the festive season run out of key commodities like chicken and selected alcoholic beverages.
As a pointer to the fact that the festive season has not lost its lustre, MTN Mobile Money vendors continue to experience a surge in the number of deposits from customers, which has seen them running out of Mobile Money units and having to source more.
One vendor, known as Lomino Mobile Money and based in Malkerns, yesterday (Saturday) ran out of units within an hour.

demand is so high

In an interview, one of the vendors whose Mobile Money stock was finished unexpectedly quick said: “I have only been here from 9am barely an hour later, I have no units to service customers. It would seem the demand is so high that we are trailing behind, trying to get more stock of Mobile Money units to serve our customers.”

Several Mobile Money vendors around Sentra Shopping Complex in Malkerns did not have units in the morning, including some of those which have a reputation of not running out of Mobile Money units.
Speaking to the Times SUNDAY, MTN Corporate Affairs Manager Mandla Luphondvo said the level of activity on Mobile Money is quite exciting.

“Particularly exciting is the observation that from recent reports, we are seeing a trend that is in line with the original intent of MTN Mobile Money as a financial inclusion tool and payment platform of sheer convenience and safety,” he said.
Mobile Money is not meant to be a platform for deposits and withdrawals. Instead, it is a platform one can use to transact on the platform or even keep money in the Mobile Money wallet.

Luphondvo said in September for instance, E54.3 million worth of transactions were conducted within the MTN Mobile Money platform while in October it shot up to E59.5 million. In November about E56.3 million was retained in the platform and possibly used without withdrawals. Over the three month period, MTN Mobile Money has seen an average of E57.7 million in circulation within the platform without being withdrawn.

deposits to pay services
He stated that they had noticed that increasingly, their valued customers made lots of deposits to pay for goods and services on the platform without having to do withdrawals, while some keep their cash in the Mobile Money wallet, which attracts no additional cost.

“The element of convenience on Mobile Money comes alive when our valued customers pay for goods and services at a time and place that suits them,” he explained.
Luphondvo said in the coming year they shall intensify customer education in different areas of MTN Mobile Money – for both their customers and their vendors.

re-invest commission

In the interim, he encouraged Mobile Money vendors to re-invest part of their commission into their business now and then so that their businesses will grow and better manage demand during high traffic times like the festive season.
He said to create additional convenience for their vendors, MTN has established relations with a number of financial institutions which help replenish Mobile Money units for vendors. Some of these institutions include SwaziBank, First National Bank and Swaziland Building Society.

“MTN has different mutually beneficial arrangements with these institutions to support Mobile Money vendors so that they are never without adequate stock, even during public holidays. Some of these institutions, like Swazi Bank, for instance, even have an Application (App) that can be used to replenish their MTN Mobile Money stock in real time” Luphondvo added.

 
 

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